AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Silence hung in the air between them. Her temper had dissipated as quickly as it had arisen.
He was making sense. Inside she knew he was making sense. But to admit it made her seem so petty.
The waiter appeared at their side again. ‘Are you ready to order?’
Cassidy didn’t even glance at the menu, she just thrust it back at the waiter. ‘I’ll have the chilli prawns and the Cajun salmon,’ she said as she looked Brad square in the eye.
She could see the pulse at the side of his neck flickering furiously. How long had he been holding all this in? Chances were he’d been waiting to say this to her for the last few weeks. And he was right.
Although there was no way she was going to admit it right now.
Tiny little thoughts of Australia had started to penetrate her brain. Little sparks, curiosity and wonder had been creeping in over the last few weeks. Would she like it there? What would it be like to be in a different country for more than a two-week holiday?
It wasn’t as if she’d never left the sunny shores of Scotland. She’d been all over the world—Spain, Italy, the US, even the Bahamas. But only for two weeks at a time. And by the time the plane had hit the tarmac back at Glasgow Airport, she’d always been glad to get back home.
But she had lots of friends who’d gone to other countries to work. The most popular place lately had been Dubai. Five of the nurses she’d worked with in Glasgow City Hospital had all upped sticks and gone to work there. All of them loved it and most had no intention of coming back to Glasgow. Two other members of staff had gone to work for aid organisations—one to Africa and one to Médecins Sans Frontières.
Why was she so different? Why had she never wanted to go and work somewhere else? Why did she feel as if her roots were firmly planted in Scottish soil?
Brad lifted the wine bottle and topped up her glass. She hadn’t even heard what he’d ordered. She only hoped it was chicken so she could swap her salmon for it.
He lifted his glass to her. ‘So, what do you say, Cassidy? Can we raise a toast to trying new things?’
She swallowed hard, her fingers brushing the tiny pockets of the advent calendar on the table in front of her. This couldn’t be too hard. She could try this, couldn’t she?
He was staring across the table at her, with those big blue eyes, tanned skin and perfect smile. Everything about him made her stomach still lurch. She’d never felt like this before. Could she honestly just walk away?
This had to be worth fighting for.
CHAPTER EIGHT
4 December
CASSIDY woke up with a smile on her face. She glanced at the calendar hanging on her wall. Maybe embracing new change wasn’t such a bad thing.
Brad’s gifts had proved personal and thoughtful. She’d found an orange Belgian chocolate in the first pocket—one that she’d remarked on that night at the George Square market. For once she hadn’t been instantly offended by the thought of a chocolate-filled calendar.
Next had been a tiny green sequin Christmas tree complete with red string, and in the third pocket she’d found a sprig of mistletoe.
It only took her seconds to push her feet into her red slippers and wrap her dressing gown around her shoulders. Brad had been on call again last night, so she hadn’t seen him.
Her brow wrinkled. Pocket number four looked distinctly flat—maybe he hadn’t had time to put something in there yet? She flicked the switch on the kettle and pulled a cup from the cupboard, before finally touching the pocket. There was a faint rustling noise. She pulled a piece of paper from the pocket and unfolded it.
It said, ‘Look under the tree—not everything can fit in these tiny pockets!’
She left the kettle boiling and walked through to her living room. There, under the tree he’d helped her decorate a few days before, was a red, glistening parcel. She couldn’t wipe the smile from her face as she unwrapped the paper. It was a book. But not just any book. It was the latest thriller from her favourite Glasgow author—one she’d been meaning to buy herself.
Cassidy sagged back against the cushions on her sofa. Yet another thoughtful gift. One that meant something to her. Picked up from a chance conversation they’d had in the middle of the night on one shift.
She looked out at the overcast sky. It was going to be another miserable day. Time to wrap up warmly and head up the frosty hill to the hospital. She heard a noise at her door—a key turning in the lock and a whoosh of cold air blasting across the room.
‘Brad, what are you doing here?’
Brad was barely recognisable among the layers of clothing he was wearing. All she could really see clearly were his blue eyes peering out from the balaclava-type headwear he’d started wearing to protect himself from the cold. He was brandishing some cups. ‘A skinny caramel latte for my favourite woman.’
She smiled. ‘I’d hug you, but you’re too cold.’
He sat down next to her, hands clenched around his cup. ‘I’d take off my jacket but let me heat up first. It’s Baltic out there.’
She laughed. ‘So, you’re finally connecting with our language. That’s something I would normally say—not you.’
He nudged her. ‘You must be rubbing off on me.’ He bent over, his cold nose brushing against her, and she let out a squeal.
‘Get away, ice man!’ He wrapped his arms around her, trapping her on the sofa.
‘This is an emergency. I need some body heat. I can’t take these cold winters!’
She pretended to squirm as he held her tight. ‘Drink your coffee. That will heat you up.’
‘I can think of a better way to heat up,’ he whispered as he grabbed her hand and led her back through to her warm bed.
10 December
Today she had a magic wand. Pocket ten had held another little note that had led her to find it wrapped in silver paper, balanced on the branches of the tree.
He’d asked her favourite film character the other night and she’d declared she’d always wanted to be Glinda, the good witch of the north, from The Wizard of Oz. So he’d bought her a magic wand. And right now she really wanted to wave it above her medical receiving unit.
In the last twenty-four hours every single one of the thirty beds in the unit had been emptied and refilled. Patients were never supposed to stay in the medical receiving unit. Patients were supposed to be assessed and transferred to one of the other wards, but the current rate of transfer was ridiculous, for both the staff and the patients.
She replaced the phone receiver. Her staff was run ragged. The bed manager was getting snarky—she had patients in A and E waiting to be admitted. The normally pristine ward looked chaotic. There were a few random patient belonging bags sitting at the nurses’ station, obviously misplaced or forgotten in the preceding few hours. And as for the ward clerk—she’d disappeared in tears five minutes ago.
Cassidy took a deep breath. This was the story of Scottish hospitals in the middle of an icy winter. It was only eight o’clock in the morning. She had to take control of this situation. Something was going to give. And she didn’t want it to be her—or her staff.
She lifted her hands above her head. ‘Everyone, stop!’
For a second there was silence. Cassidy never raised her voice on the ward and her staff looked startled. A few heads stuck out from doors down the corridor.
‘Everyone...’ she gestured her hands towards the desk ‘...come here. This will take five minutes.’
Her bewildered staff walked towards the nursing station. Some were carrying electronic nursing notes, some bed linen and towels.
Cassidy waited until they’d all assembled. One of the phlebotomists and ECG technicians appeared, too. She took another deep breath.
‘Everyone, let’s calm down. I want you all to take a deep breath and tell me calmly what help you ne
ed.’ She laid one hand on the desk. ‘I can tell you that right now, no matter what the bed manager says, we will not move another patient until after lunchtime today. We need time to assess these patients properly.’
She gestured to the bags on the floor. ‘We need to make sure that patients’ belongings don’t go astray.’ She lowered her voice. ‘More importantly, I need my team to know that they do a good job.’
She could see the visible calm descending on the ward as the rumble of the meal trolley could be heard approaching. ‘What about the patients in A and E?’ asked one of the younger staff nurses.
Cassidy shook her head. ‘A and E is full of competent nursing staff. They are more than capable of starting the assessments for their patients. I’m going to phone them now and tell them to arrange breakfast and lunch for those patients. They won’t be moving any more up here until after lunchtime.’
A number of shoulders relaxed around her.
‘What about the bed manager?’
Cassidy smiled. ‘Let me deal with her. Now...’ she looked over at the staff surrounding her ‘...Fiona and Claire, go for your tea break. Michael...’ she nodded to the tall, dark-haired nurse beside her ‘...you start the drug round. Linda and Ann, you help Joanne, the domestic, with the breakfasts.’ The two auxiliaries scurried off, glad to have a simple task to perform.
Cassidy noticed Janice, the ward clerk, sniffing at her side. ‘What’s wrong, Janice?’
‘It’s the off-duty. It was supposed to be in for yesterday. But there’s still a few shifts that need to be covered.’
Cassidy’s eyes swept over the blank spaces in the book. Her brain shifted into gear. One of her senior staff nurses had asked if she could start taking over the off-duty rota. And she’d made an absolute mess of it, something Cassidy would have to deal with at a later date.
